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“Right now my health and living situation keeps me from doing much-have went from child to childs home the last 2 yrs-now in a cheap hotel and broke- last November they told me my kidney transplant had failed and I have been on kidney dialysis 3 times a week since-in February our youngest daughter, Jane,who was 21,died from a condition commonly associated with the spina bifida she had-this past weekend I was admitted to the hospital because I couldn’t breathe and found out I had congestive heart failure on top of everything else-these last 12 months have been, by far, the worst year of my life- I have people who have tried to contact Todd for me but he is unresponsive-as have been Ron Lim and Bryan Hitch-haven’t tried the convention thing but may give it a shot when my living situation is more stable– I am on social security and ssi- they are supposed to raise it either this month or next-then it will hopefully be enough to support me and my wife-until then,till the first of the month, I am begging money here on face book-now that I have the chf, I no longer have the stamina to panhandle— as for the big 2- what can I say-my connections in both companies say to continue sending new samples and they will pass them around— hero initiative helped me thru a 7 month unemployment stretch 5 or 6 yrs ago-as well as buying us a van for Jane for her appointments-so when I went to them about a year and a half ago when everything went south,they said that they had to help new clients since their funding was low-which I totally understand— if you can help every little bit helps-my paypal is col.jimbo3rd@yahoo.com thank you for answering me and taking the time to talk-its frustrating when you see that someone saw your message and they don’t answer back-it makes me feel like I am beneath contempt— be well an be blessed. Jim Sanders III”

I DIDN’T EDIT JIM’S MESSAGE. PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS FOR AN ARTIST WHO’S FALLEN ON DESPERATE, HARD TIMES AND GIVE IF YOU CAN. Jim has private messaged myself and assistant director Mike Kellar for money over time with snippets of his condition and need. Then he sent this to artist Josef Rubinstein who sent it to me and we’ve circulated it at our social networks. I emailed Jim back for further details and from what I understand, he is collecting social security and SSI and has health insurance to tackle the medical bills. The problem is trying to get by financially in regards to his living expenses like food, shelter, clothes, gas, etc. Him and his wife will be moving into his brother’s place after taking a trip from Florida to South Carolina in mid-November so things will stabilize a bit at that time. He hopes that is he can raise funds to cover his present needs he can resume doing commissions next month and be open for new clients and any job offers and try to get past the worst of this time in his life. The Inkwell Awards intend to set up auctions for donors who have art to donate to help Jim. We will follow-up when we have more info to share on this. Bob Almond

Inking is the art of enhancing an illustration through the means of redrawing pencil lines with ink and its related tools. This enhancing, or 'ink editing', would elaborate in the areas of, but not limited to, weight, space, depth, definition, contrast, texture, composition and design. The Inkwell Awards promotes this often overlooked and under-appreciated art form by serving as a source of education for inking and recognizing excellence and achievement of individual artists working in the field of comic book sequential illustration.